The steamers
Columbia and Ste. Claire
represent the typical
propeller-driven excursion steamer
of the turn of the century, a type
once found in many parts of the
country. Excursion steamers are
steamships built primarily for
passengers for day trips.
Columbia and her running mate
Ste. Claire represent the
"ocean-going" type of excursion
vessel although they were used on
lakes.
The steamer
Columbia and
Ste. Claire are the
last two remaining classic excursion
steamers in the country; and the
last essentially unaltered passenger
ships designed by
Frank E. Kirby; and for their
essentially unaltered propulsion
machinery of a type becoming
increasingly rare ;
as the two last vessels of the
Detroit and Windsor Ferry Co.; as
two of the few surviving vessels
built by the Detroit Dry Dock
Company, and for their unaltered
propulsion machinery, which is of a
rare type. Columbia is the
oldest passenger steamer in the
United States, excepting vessels
properly classed as ferries.
Columbia and her running-mate
Ste. Claire are the last
two steamers of their type with
integrity left in the United States.
The pair shared their original run
from Detroit to
Bob-Lo Island for 81 years, a
record of service on a single run
unequalled in U. S. maritime
history.
Columbia is docked at the
Great Lakes Steel dock in Ecorse
Michigan where she has been
laid up since 1991. The
Steamer Columbia Foundation had a
goal of returning the ship to
service on the Detroit river by
2002, sadly that effort was
unsuccessful. In 2002 I formed the
non-profit 501c 3 group The Friends
of the Bob-Lo Boat Columbia in an
effort to keep Columbia in Detroit
and return her to service.
On January 8, 2003 the
National Trust Loan staff and the
National Trust Loan Committee voted
to consider a New York maritime
preservation group. This groups plan
is to restore her and return her to
service on the Hudson River in New
York. As of December
2003 there has been no further news
on the New York group. Late 2003,
The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy
announces proposal to return her to
service on the Detroit river pending
a feasibility study which was
conducted in 2004. As of this
writing there has been made public,
if any news is released we will post
it on this page. Summer 2006 the New
York group "The Columbia project
acquires the Columbia and plans to
move her o New York for service on
the Hudson River. She is still
in her slip located in Ecorse as of
09-22-08
Ste. Claire is currently
docked in Ecorse Michigan where she
is in the third year of her
restoration by volunteers and the
Maximus Corporation.
Any additional information or photos
that become available will be posted
on the site. This site is dedicated
to Columbia and Ste.
Claire and the men and women who
served aboard these two wonderful
ships for 81 years.
Portions
of this text was taken from When
Detroit Ruled the Waves, by Michael
Dixon, the State of Michigan
Historic preservation web site and
the Steamer Columbia and Bob-Lo Boat
Ste. Claire web site
